The Lives You Do Not Know

 I wrote this for my wife for Valentines Day. She provides yoga online to people she has never met. How unconditional is that giving? Lovely. 

 

As they zoom on in with only a name
You’re simply glad that they came
You do not make their acquaintance – after or before
Yet, you lead them through the proverbial door
You guide them to their balanced health
Their physical well-being, their body’s wealth
Allowing their stress to simply and gently melt
Into a serenity and a peace gently felt
And since they may come and they may go
These are the lives you do not know

But these are the lives you will touch with love
When daily existence comes to push and shove
Your light and your care go across airwaves
The aches and the pains, your guidance saves
It’s not about notoriety, riches or monetary gain
It’s nothing you need to really explain
It’s about the growth you have experienced over time
It’s about the gifts you’ve received, conscious and sublime
It’s about not needing to know the receiver or sender
It’s about the proverbial door we all need to enter

These are the lives you do not know
The ones you reach in hopes they’ll grow
These are the lives you want to improve
So bodies relax, stretch, expand and move
From sukhasana to savasana, you reveal the way
With printouts of itinerary for each of the days
With microphone hookup so they can hear what you say
From namaste to namaste to namaste
Meeting your own divinity in effortless flow
Which may be one of the lives you do not know

So as they zoom on in with a name and blank screen
Spirit will know what’s happening behind the scenes
Spirit will know what this all really means
And in time we’ll know, through what we have seen
Gifts are given and received – all at once, by all who share
By those who go for their goals … those who dare
By those who dream a dream including everyone
Knowing God has a plan and God’s will shall be done
Into the mystery, into the void you now willingly go
All for the sake of the lives you do not know
The lives you do not know

James Anthony Ellis is a writer found at www.LegacyProductions.org.

 

 

The Foundation of Unity

Point to that unifying force and you have a chance at unity.
Point to anything else, and you are just trying to get your way.                                                        

Unity. There is a desire for unity in this nation.   

 

Yet it will not come as a proclamation, or a demand. It won’t even come as a request. It will not come as a plea for peace and mutual understanding from some leader – religious, governmental, inspirational.   

 

It won’t come from any dogma, policy or political stance.

 

It will not come from the right. It does not come from the left.

 

And it does not even come from standing in the “middle” as some may mistakenly believe. And broadcast.

 

Unity arises from the foundation on which we all stand.

 

For those cheering on a football team, they needn’t “half-heartedly” root on the other team in order to remain unified with the sport of football. For those in a boxing match, they needn’t try a little less and allow the other boxer to get some advantage in order to remain unified with the opponent. 

 

Opponents are opponents. Having various sides of a sport, an argument or a political spectrum is natural and part of what could be seen as a harmonious whole … as long as … there are underlying principles, rules of engagement and a justice system.

 

In football, there is the integrity of the game – rules and impartial referees.

 

In boxing, there is the integrity of the match – rules and an impartial referee.

 

As long as there is no special treatment favoring one team or another, such a balance keeps everything unified, even if there are fans and participants on polar opposites of the equation. With a unified foundation, the love of the overall sport can be secure and celebrated.   

 

So when baseball’s Houston Astros cheated and screwed with the rules in the recent past, they were completely disrupting the game – the entire game – because it took away the foundation that makes the sport what it is. And a lot of people were understandably upset, mostly because there didn’t appear to be a real consequence from a fair system of justice.

 

In our nation, we may not have rules and referees but there is the promise of a Republic – holding law and order, and an impartial checks-and-balance system of justice, with judges only looking at the law and not personalities, platforms or platitudes.

 

It’s a promise only powerful when it is kept and held to account. By everyone.

 

Everyone. 

 

If anyone in our nation wishes for unity, do not look left, do not look right, do not move towards the middle. Look beneath us all. If you want to unite or reunite around something, why not start with the foundational principles of liberty, life, inalienable rights, the pursuit of happiness, equal protection under the law, and the US Constitution?

 

Let us pledge – as all our public servants have pledged, from the President to our law enforcement – to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, so help us God.

 

There is our true common ground.   

 

There is our integrity with a foundational force.   

 

There is our unity.

 

James Anthony Ellis is a writer found at www.LegacyProductions.org.